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I have a Canon 2000D DSLR. I like to keep all my pictures in the relatively big memory card, so that there is a second copy of all pictures in case my laptop SSD dies.

However, every time I connect the DSLR via USB to the computer, loading the thumbnails of all files takes more and more time. It's now way more than half a minute to load all thumbnails because there's over 400 pictures! Obviously, the images I'm interested in will be the last ones shown.

Today, I tried to create a directory named "old" to the memory card in the DSLR but the camera didn't allow creation of a new directory (I don't remove the memory card from the DSLR, I connect it directly via USB to the computer).

What is the best way to solve this issue? Obviously, one solution could be to just remove the pictures from the memory card and have a separate large USB pen drive as backup, but that would be extra hassle. Is there a way to create an "old" directory in the memory card, which the camera is prohibiting now?

Ideally, I would just fill the memory card and when it's full purchase a new card and store the old card somewhere, treating it like film negatives.

One solution I was planning would be to sort the list from newest to oldest, so that newest would load first, but then again I'm not sure if Windows remembers the sorting order across detach and reattach cycles.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I wouldn't trust any USB/SD card/stick for long-term storage unless as part of a more comprehensive strategy. I used to get through literally thousands of them for work & they show an alarming propensity to just one day curl up their toes & die, with little to no warning. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 12:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Tetsujin Also, AFAIK, flash memory is not made for archival, as with increasing age, the memory cells will lose their charge - which corrupts the information irreverdibly. I will look that up on superuser as soon as I'm back on my computer. \$\endgroup\$
    – flolilo
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 13:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ Data backup is always a "hassle". It may not seem so now, but if/when one copy of files gets lost, corrupted, etc, then that hassle very quickly becomes a big relief. Personally, I would look at cloud backup solutions. There are questions about that here - just do a search above. \$\endgroup\$
    – osullic
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 19:02

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Any drive connected by USB is going to be slow, because USB is a big bottleneck. You could use software which can cache thumbnails to a different directory (geeqie, for example, on Linux) and only open the folder with that.

But overall, I think it's a case where the old joke applies:

"Doctor, it hurts when I do this...."

"Well, don't do that!"

Not only is an SD card full of images slow, it's also not reliable. You should back up your photos to a high-quality drive you use for that purpose and to a cloud backup service. Otherwise, you've really got a disaster waiting to happen. (Specifically, your computer fails, and you think, no problem, I'll just copy them from the card, and that's when you find that the card has developed read errors.)

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